Vacationing With Family

Hello Folks! — We are back from our vacation and a fine one it was. It is one that the children will never forget. Romping in the Badlands, driving along roads full of switchbacks, hairpins and pigtails. Going through long tunnels where the kids tried to out shout each other and failing that, insisted on having the horn honk so they could hear it echo through the tunnels. Visiting museums. Sliding down snowbanks barefooted and having snowball fights. Camping out and having picnics in the mountains. Swimming in the hot springs until they were tired. Renewing acquaintances with cousins and getting acquainted with others. Visiting lumbering camps over 9,000 feet elevation in the mountains and a host of other things makes this summer one to be remembered.

This was a vacation where rest was almost at a premium there was so much going on. The night we go home the children went right to bed and slept until late the next morning.

Grandpa and Grandma Barnes celebrated their Golden Anniversary. It was a grand success. The families of each one of the eight children put on the program and entertained with poems, skits and songs.

There is a lot of talent in the Barnes family and they proved it. I was asked to MC the program. The show lasted one and a half hours.

The work was waiting for us when we got home and we are back in the swing of it. The children are already getting up ideas for another day.

On our trip we spent a good half day in Cody, Wyoming. It is one of the most progressive cities I have ever seen.

Any one visiting the town should plan on spending at least a day there. It is named after William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody and much of its history is tied up with him.

Cody was a showman and I don't believe that he intended for a minute that the town should ever forget him. I don't mean that to be a slam, for he was truly a man of high order. He left a heritage for America that we can all be proud of and to tell of his many accomplishments would fill a number of books.

He established a museum in Cody that is the finest anywhere. A full day could be spent there viewing all the relics and sights to be found in the four large buildings occupying the sight.

Another benefactor of Cody is Mrs. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. She sculptured the "Buffalo Bill" statue at the west edge of town and bequeathed a wonderful museum that is worth anyone's time to visit. It is a huge thing and many hours could be spent there, profitably.

Today's great benefactor of Cody is Glenn Nielsen, founder and president of Husky Oil Co. Through his generous contributions the Whitney museum has received many valuable art and museum pieces.

Also as a result of Mr. Nielsen and the deceased artist Edward Grigware Cody has another important art attraction.

Just a Sittin' And a Rockin'

HELLO FOLKS! — Worry is like a rocking chiar. It will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere.

--o--

THERE IS no - smaller package than a man wholly wrapped up in himself.

--o--

IT LOOKS LIKE the dairy problem is almost solved. Dairy cow numbers are down 3 1/2 per cent under a year ago, and still decreasing. Production is still going up per cow which is good as it spells higher efficiency and lower cost, but the surplus has practically vanished, and within another year the government will probably be out of the surplus purchasing business as far as dairy is concerned. It has been a painful healing process and the price fixers realized that if they lost the battle for control of dairy products they might as well 'throw in the sponge.'

To top it all off the cows left are concentrated in larger herds which makes for even greater efficiency and better handling of milk. It is easier to regulate sanitation in a few large herds than in many small ones.

This all adds up for the benefit of the consumer and producer alike as it contributes to our ever increasing standard of living. The laboring man today has never had so good a buy in dairy products as he now has. The real way to figure the cost of anything is in the number of hours worked to purchase it, or for the farmer the number of hogs, bushels of grain, etc. For instance it takes only eight minutes of work to purchase a quart of milk and twenty or twenty five for a pound of butter.

--o--

WELL, ELECTION is over, as far as the primary is concerned and yours truly can get back to farming.

I want to sincerely thank those of you who voted for me and for the many kind expressions. I did not realize a campaign could be so interesting. I got to meet so many of you that I would never have met otherwise.

I congratulate the winners. As far as I know there was no mudslinging, which shows that at least some politicians are growing up. I think name calling is just a sign of emotional immaturity.

I think I must be very thick skinned, or something because I didn't feel any remorse at losing, at least not enough to lose any sleep over. Guess it wouldn't have done any good to have done so anyway.

--o--

IN RECENT years, farmers have spent about $10 billion annually for production goods and services of nonfarm origin. This according to the USDA. This is more than four times as much as they spent annually for such goods and service in 1938, Prices increased during those twenty years to account for one-half of the increase in these expenses. The biggest in-crease has been for machinery and cost reducing equipment.

Taxes Fret Our People

Hello Folk's — From some distance two soldiers looked on as a young woman chased her hat, which had been blown off by a gust of wind. "That girl's from the country," said one of them, "How do you make that out?" asked his companion.

You can always tell a country girl from a city girl if there's a good wind, replied the first. "A country girl grabs her skirt — a city girl, her hat."

--o--

There is a lot of talk about taxes at a time like this. What with the legislature in session and the state treasury in a deficit. A lot of the talk is just babbling of someone who wants to make an impression or play politics.

Time was when we believed that we could ask for anything and not have to pay for it through taxes. Those days are gone forever. In days past the taxes were paid mostly by the wealthier people. The average man didn't notice the taxes so much because they were hidden in the cost of the things he or she bought.

From now on we pay dearly whether we want to or not. The pity is that the ones least able to pay are the ones who get hurt the most. I mean by deficit spending nationally we cheapen the dollars that the aged, who hanging prepared for their future have saved up. That leaves them victims of inflation which has been brought on by the politicians who are unwilling to face the facts of life, namely, that we have to pay for what we get whether we want to or not.

There is a lot of talk about a sales tax. It is pretty obvious that some of those who talk the most against the sales tax would just as soon see it brought into effect just so that they would not have to be the ones to have their names connected with it.

I am personally not in favor of straight sales tax but the thing that makes me pretty disgusted is while certain 'smart' politicians condemn the sales tax they never open their mouths against the personal property tax.

To my estimation that is one of the most unfair taxes there is. It is assessed against us without any regard as to the ability to pay.

For instance the average farmer pays over $100 in personal property taxes and he has to have the valuation in order to stay in business, not only that out the amount he has to pay is going up every year, as the cost of farming is going up. Yet you never hear these 'sales tax sobbers' crying over the property tax; this despite the fact that someone with the same income and sometimes twice the income get by with a few paltry dollars.

A sales tax could be made quite fair with a $10 per capita rebate when the income tax report is filed. That way the large families, who would  be hurt the most by a straight sales tax, would not be the victims the tax and the many tourists who frequent our state during the vacation season would pay quite a sum into the treasury which would help reimburse the money Minnesotans pay into other states in the way of sales taxes when they travel be beyond our borders.

Another thing the sales tax sobs try to tell the public is that a sale tax would hurt the economy of the state. Such a statement is just no so, as far as I can determine. Certainly none of the 30 some state. who have a sales tax think so and their economy don't show it either.

I will agree that an income tax is the fairest sort of tax their is and I believe that as it is proposed now it would be the best solution to Minnesotas problem.

The only thing wrong is that it still covers only halt of the present state deficit with the pay-as-you-go expected to balance it for this biannium, and the hard pill to be faced again two years hence.

We had better face the hard fact: now and not be satisfied with a temporary expediency only to find ourselves faced with a worse problem later.

Lastly let's not let the politicians brains-wash as about taxes. They can't if we are informed, but they'll sure try it if they think they can get by with it.

Do We Have

HELLO FOLKS — The difference between a statesman and a politician is that the politician creates problems and the statesman solves them.

--o--

THE DEMOCRATIC convention is over and the Republican about to begin. I was pretty sure that Kennedy would win at the convention and on the first ballot. I had been following his campaign and organization and anyone who has as well oiled and healed an organization as Kennedy is bound to win.

His choice of Lyndon Johnson as running mate surprised me, but had he not chosen Johnson he would have lost the South and might do so even now. However, Johnson has a great influence in the South and that might pull it into the Democratic camp. It also might draw a number of middle of the road votes.

I have always had great respect for Kennedy. He at one time stood for solid principles and still does if it is politically 'smart'. The thing that bothers me most is his falling into the same trap that Stevenson fell into.

When the Democrats had their midwest farm conference at Sioux Falls in 1956, Stevenson had a prepared speech in which he stated that neither high rigid nor flexible price supports were workable. This was his feeling. The so called 'liberals, who were running the show and intended to be sure that the decisions of the Conference went their way insisted on seeing his speech in advance. When they learned what Stevenson had prepared they informed him that if he insisted on giving that talk he would not get the Democratic nomination. The upshot was that Stevenson changed his theme.

We all know that Stevenson, as a result of that switch, got the nomination. In doing so however, he lost the esteem of a lot of clear thinking citizens.

Now Kennedy has fallen into the same trap. He says that he has changed his thinking because of the drop in farm income. The fact is that he knows he could not have had the nomination unless he knuckled in to the extreme element of the party. What this will cost him in the long run is hard to see. but one thing is certain, there are a lot of good people who are disappointed.

There are a lot of well meaning people who think that letting the 'government regulate the prices and production of commodities is all right, but the real propellent behind it all is the subversive element that adheres to the orders coming from behind the 'iron curtain.' The Communist planners know that they have to control the food that goes into the peoples' stomachs before they can really have control of the masses.

History has shown that a free market controlled by co-operatives and free organizations of the land assures the most for the product in the long run. The forces who are drumming for government controls are for the most part not interested in good income for farmers: they are interested in subverting the nation and can sing more confusion than in solving problems.

In the days ahead let us not be confused and let us not he misled by those who advocate government control. They are only interested in setting the farmer hack to the horse and buggy days and weakening the nation by heaping the food bill on the consumer making him unhappy and giving the farmer a smaller portion of the economy 'pie', all this through slowing down and reversing efficiency, destroying our markets. exports and causing general confusion.